Light in the gloom

Here’s a point of light in the economic haze. Indiana has more industrial project construction going on than any
nearby state.

Industrial Info Resources, a Houston-area research firm, says the value of industrial construction
underway in Indiana totals $8.5 billion, more than any surrounding state or Wisconsin can claim.

Industrial Info
counts big projects as well as maintenance, which can be nickel-and-dime stuff of $1 million here, $3 million
there. Nevertheless, when a state as small as Indiana has more activity than Illinois, Michigan or Ohio, it says
something.

That top status won’t last long. Industrial Info shows Indiana launching only $3.4 billion in
industrial construction this year, with much of the figure driven by wind farms. In 2011, the value of fledgling construction
rises to $8.3 billion, but that will be only a fraction of projects scheduled to begin in some of the nearby states.

Industrial Info Resources, by the way, is pure in its definition of “industrial”—no warehouses. It tracks
power generation, oil terminals and transmission, chemicals, alternative fuels, pharmaceuticals and biotech, paper, metals,
foods and beverages, and industrial manufacturing.

Thoughts?